the same is onely a meere humane exercise not hauing in it owne selfe any sanctitie or holines at all Besides all this that which you say is too to absurd For if the onely exercise of fasting be made an effectuall meanes for dispossessing the diuell then may the same in like manner be made also an effectuall meanes for the effectuall suppressing of all those actuall sinnes whatsoeuer which the diuell suggests into men Because an actiue vértue which hath an abilitie in that which is greater it hath an abilitie also in that which is lesse that lesse especially being essentially subordinate in one and the selfesame kinde as are the actuall sinnes suggested by Satan to Satan himselfe And so by consequence any other creature else onely but abstayning a time as you did from meates and drinkes it may also be made an effectuall meanes to dispossesse the diuell himselfe and withall to suppresse his diuellish suggestions Exorcistes Nay sir I make not my exercise of fasting the efficient cause of that selfesame admirable action but an assistent rather in the fruitfull performance of that forcible prayer which forced the diuell to depart Not that my said prayer had beene vnfruitfull without some such speciall assistance of fasting ioyned therewith but for that the flesh being thereby tamed the better my spirit more feruently performed that selfesame prayer which then and there dispossessed the diuell Physiologus Why were you then so fond to affirme at the first that without the ioynt exercise of fasting and prayer together your prayer it selfe had beene vtterly frustrate concerning especiallie that speciall action Well then let vs proceed It was not your exxercise of fasting then but your forcible prayer that forced the diuell to depart But tell me I pray you do you not esteeme of that selfesame actuall possession as of an extraordinarie and a meere supernaturall matter Exorcistes Yes sir I dare flatly affirme that the same was entirely and wholie a meere supernaturall matter For had the same beene anie way naturall it should then haue proceeded from some such naturall causes or wantes in the partie himselfe as might haue beene otherwaies cured by physicall helpes and meere naturall meanes Whereas this the actuall possession in the yoongman there it had as Physicions affirme somewhat Diuine or supernaturall the same also incurable by any humane or ordinarie skill and which could not otherwaies be possiblie cured but by the onely ordinarie meanes of fasting and praier Physiologus I like well your plainenes But tell me yet farther I praie you whether your said action of fasting and praier for that dispossessing of Satan was any other thing else but a created or meere naturall action Exorcistes Nay surely sir that selfesame action as it proceeded from me and was simplie performed by me it was no other thing else but a meere naturall action For how coulde I possiblie practise any vncreated or supernaturall action being my selfe but a created or meere naturall agent Physiologus Yea but the effect which folowed of that your saide naturall action I meane that extraordinarie dispossession of satan it was vndoubtedly if any at all a supernaturall effect and so you absurdly conclude that an onely created or meere naturall cause it may eftsoones â—ffect some supernaturall actions Exorcistes Do make of the matter what pleaseth your selfe very certaine I am that my prayer alone did effectually driue foorth the diuell Physiologus Well be it supposed your verie prayer alone did effectually driue foorth the diuell as you verie fondly imagine wherein I beseech you consisted the efficacie force of your prayer Whether in sound or in voice or in wordes If onely in sound why might not then a tabret or drume haue also effected that selfesame admirable action seeing as shrill and as forcible a sound might haue proceeded from them as could possiblie proceed from your selfe Againe if onely in voice why might not a lyon a bull or a beare haue effected the enterprize sith they had beene able more terriblie to haue roared bellowed or brayed foorth their voices abroad then you your own selfe Briefly if neither in sound nor in voice but onely in words why might not then some pratling Parrat haue driuen foorth that diuell sith shee also might well haue beene taught to prattle foorth words if onely bare wordes would haue borne out the busines But perhaps you would haue vs imagine that the efficacie of your prayer did onely consist in the wordes of a man then must we withal be thus much perswaded at least namely that the verie bare wordes of a mortall man albeit they vanish in the aire as they are vttered foorth yet haue they in themselues such a secret force as is able to driue foorth a diuell Oh heere is â—oughtie good stuffe if the world were once quicke Exorcistes You are highly to blame in blazing abroad as you doe such sharpe Satyricall quippes and gyrding taunts against my admirable action wrought at Mahgnitton For by disgracing that woonderfull worke of the Lord the holie exercise of fasting and praier is shamefully scorned and brought into publike disgrace Physiologus I neither disgrace the holy actions of God nor scorne at any his sacred ordinances no I more truely esteeme and more sincerely reuerence the holy exercise of fasting praier then you do your selfe by much For whereas I onely approoue of the power and practise thereof according to truth your selfe by prophaning the same in such falsly supposed actions do make the holie exercise of fasting and praier to be shamefully scorned of atheistes derided of papists yea and very shrewdly to be suspected with weakelings So that you your owne selfe by these your disordered dealings do rather bring that holy ordinance of God into publique disgrace Exorcistes Do I bring praier and fasting into publique disgrace when I vse them onely in driuing foorth diuels Physiologus Why man you confesse them but meere naturall actions as they were performed by your selfe and you haue heard it sufficiently prooued before that no created or meere naturall power may possibly extend it selfe to any such supernaturall actions as is the extraordinary expelling of spirits and diuels And therefore by abusing the holy exercise of praier and fasting about such fasly supposed possessions of diuels what do you therein in effect but bring them directly into publique disgrace as I told you before Exorcistes What you told me before it makes no matter I both know what I did and what was my purpose in dooing the same Physiologus In deed it should seeme you propounded to your selfe some speciall purpose flat opposite to the holy ordinance of God and thereupon hath followed so bad an effect Exorcistes Why sir hath not the Lord established praier and fasting as an ordinary perpetuall meanes for the powerfull expelling of spirits and diuels By vsing the same therefore as I did in that admirable action I walked therein according to the holy ordinance of God Orthodoxus I
possession we tolde you was ment an essentiall or personall entring in men the which we vtterlie reiected as a palpable vntruth absurd in Philosophie and vnsound in Diuinitie as by vnanswerable arguments authenticall authorities and plaine euidence of Scripture was apparantly prooued vnto you Telling you further that if such a reall possession be granted the same must be either a mentall or corporall possession The real-ment all possession we flatly denied Because else the possessed mans minde it must needs be a locall-receptacle essentially and substantially comprehending the diuell for the present which by the verie swaie of arguments the authoritie of writers and plaine euidence of Scriptures we fully confuted And this also in effect was the verie summe or scope of our second conference Exorcistes I remember it well Orthodoxus Then next concerning the reall-corporall possession that also we reiected as fond and friuolous it being a matter neuer purposed by the Lord himselfe in the first creation of bodies For else the minde it selfe must be vniustly charged to answere all those her animall and organicall operations which without any her consent and approbation are violently enforced vpon the possessed mans bodie or if the possessed himselfe being freed from those operations the diuell alone should be called to account for the guilt of those actions then something concerning the possessed himselfe should be acted by him to no purpose Besides that such a real corporall possession the diuell being onely a spirituall substance cannot possiblie be perceiued of the possessed himselfe but onely effectiuely and therefore there can be no sensible perceiuance of any such essentiall possession vnlesse we retaine the Platonists opinion concerning corporall diuels A thing directly opposite to reason to the testimonie of writers and the plaine euidence of sacred Scriptures And this also as I take it was in effect the summe of our third conference Exorcistes I may with no good conscience denie it Orthodoxus Then next because your selfe so earnestly insisted vpon the reall corporall possession it was further declared vnto you that if the same should be granted the diuels then they must necessarily haue such a kinde of possession either by assuming to themselues some true naturall bodie or by transforming themselues into some true naturall bodie at least Their assuming of true naturall bodies wee flatly reiected as an opinion too too vnreasonable absurd and most senslesse whether we vnderstand the same of bodies created before or of bodies then foorthwith to be created And that therefore the diuell his tempting of Euah by the Serpent the Angell his deliuerie of a sensible speech by Baalam his Asse the diuell his supposed assuming of Samuels bodie with such other examples and Scriptures which verie manie doe most ignorantly vrge for this matter they are too too grosly and fondly abused as we prooued vnto you by arguments by writers and by the sacred scriptures And this also if I be not fowly deceiued was in effect the summe of our fourth conference Exorcistes I dare not denie any part thereof Orthodoxus Then next for the diuell his transforming of himselfe into any true naturall bodie we declared vnto you the impossibilitie and most palpable absurditie thereof notwithstanding the Sorcerers rods transformed as you thought into true naturall serpents the supposed transfiguring of Nebuchad-nezzer into an oxe with such other examples Shewing you withall by the conference of places that that place of Scripture which speaketh of Satan his transforming of himselfe into an Angell of light was misunderstood of the most Neither may the same or any like places of scripture be litterally vnderstood of any essential transformations because that work was neuer in the power of a diuel No he cannot possibly transforme him selfe into any true forme whatsoeuer if Christ his argument concerning the non visibility and palpability of spirits and diuels be without contradiction which it could not be if the diuel was able but onely in outward appearance to transforme him selfe into any true forme whatsoeuer as wee proued by reason by fathers and by the canonicall scriptures And this also was in effect the summe of our fift conference Exorcistes I wil at no hand contradict your report Orthodoxus Hauing thus dispatched the supposed real possession of spirits and diuels we entred then into a like serious consideration of their actuall possession shewing you first what it was and then next the seuerall parts thereof Namely either a mentall afflicting and greeuing or a corporall tormenting and vexing We shewed you further that this actuall possession was onely in vse in the daies of Christ and of his disciples Howbeit the maine ends thereof namely the declaration of Christ his deity and the confirmation of his glorious Gospel being in those daies very effectually accomplished the possession also it was by our Sauiour himselfe verie fully and finallie determined Yea and the determination of this actuall possession we confidently auouched notwithstanding any one matter pretended by you for the perpetuitie thereof as was directly prooued by force of argument by the plaine testimonie of ancient writers and the ineuitable euidence of the sacred Scriptures And this in effect was the summe of our sixth conference Exorcistes It was vndoubtedly so as you say Orthodoxus And then next because you insisted still vpon the perpetuitie of actuall possession by an argument drawne from common experience in all that beheld your supposed action wrought at Mahgnitton wee prooued directly vnto you that this their supposed experiēce it could be accoūted no currant experience in deed Both because manie like admirable matters may be demonstrated from meere naturall causes effects and diseases and for that also a meere naturall experience when the same is brought to the best it may be no competent Iudge in such supernaturall matters A thing opposite to Diuinitie to Philosophie to Physicke to Nature to Lawe and to Conscience as may verie plainely appeere whether we respect the action it selfe or the manner of doing the same Then after all this we came to entreate of Satan his power of obsession which consisteth especially in an outward assaulting and circumuenting or in an inward suggesting and tempting And this also in effect was the summe of our seuenth conference Exorcistes The whole truth thereof is without contradiction Orthodoxus Hauing thus handled the power of spirits and diuels whatsoeuer we came next to entreat of that extraordinarie working power whereby their saide power was subdued Shewing you directly that the same was either immediate in Christ the stronger or mediate in some certeine speciall persons extraordinarily mooued to that selfesame busines Againe the mediate power we told you it was either Apostolicall I meane in the Apostles themselues an admirable extraordinarie good meanes to confirme their extraordinary preachings or else Ecclesiasticall that is in the seuentie Disciples and some others succeeding And that therefore this Ecclesiasticall power it was more especially to be considered againe in
appointed praier and fasting an onely effectuall meanes for the powerfull expelling of diuels he notwithstanding all this doth make a speciall choice of persons of places and times for the more orderly effecting of euerie such admirable enterprise Orthodoxus Your answeres without doubt are suddenly fallen to such deadly debate among themselues as the one is readie to pull out the throate of the other by reason of some bad disposition or present defect in your memorie For praier fasting ere while was the only appointed meanes to expel the power of the diuel and now the efficacie thereof is restrained to places times It was not long since a publike ordinance appointed generallie for all men and now it is imposed vpon some speciall persons Not long since it might well be effected by the partie himselfe and his parents but now the powerfull dispatch thereof is peculiar onely to preachers and pastours Not long since it was an ordinarie power incident to any godly Minister or others but no Minister now how godlie soeuer hath the good hap to hit on that matter saue onely your selfe Thus then you see that as the disease so also the cure it doth ebbe and flowe with the Moone Howbeit these doubtfull vncerteinties doe sauour verie shrewdly of some legerdemaine at the least And howsoeuer your selfe auouching that God maketh speciall choise of persons of places and times woulde cunningly shelter your cause vnder Augustines credite verie certeine I am that the same is onely a Iesuiticall iuggling deuise and therefore it deserueth the selfesame answere with theirs For be it that the Lord as Augustine saith doth make a speciall choice of persons of places and times for the orderly effecting of euery such admirable action this prooueth not that the power of working myracles continueth still to this present Onely it sheweth that whensoeuer the Lord worketh any woonderfull worke he is free to make choise of persons of places and times as seemeth best to his wisedome And therefore admitting all this for a truth do tell me withall by what meanes you are certeine that the Lord made speciall choise of your selfe for such speciall busines Exorcistes Why sir the verie effect it selfe doth fully declare the truth of the matter for I cast foorth the diuell Orthodoxus Be it that some such effect as your selfe surmizeth did forthwith succeed your saide enterprize yet forsomuch as your selfe did no more in the matter then was ordinarily incident you say to any godly preacher or others how comes it to passe that those other performing the very selfesame things you performed your selfe no such admirable effect should follow their labors Was it for that the rest of the Ministers were all but vngodly wretches in comparison of you Or was it so rather for that those Ministers fearing the Lord aright the Lord would not suffer their innocent soules to be falsly seduced by any such sleights or for that you your selfe being at that time more destitude of grace had for the present some power to effect such a false deceiueable signe to your greater condemnation without speedie repentance Exorcistes Howsoeuer I may not impure a lesse measure of godlinesse to others neither yet arrogate any more to my selfe then to any of the rest verie certeine it is that onely my selfe had then the speciall power to expell the diuell Physiologus Master Orthodoxus let me argue this point Come on Exorcistes If your owne selfe as you say had then a more speciall power to expell the diuell by prayer and fasting then any of the rest that your said power it must needs be a vocall or personall power at the least My meaning is that such a speciall power it proceeded either from your prayer or your person but not from your prayer at all for the others also they prayed and fasted as deuoutly as you did your selfe albeit in vaine and therefore your prayer of it selfe it could haue no more power then theirs vnlesse hapily you haue some speciall prayer for that speciall purpose beyond the rest of your brethren Yea and when all comes to all it was not your prayer but your preaching it should seeme that expelled the diuell Againe if such a speciall power proceeded from your person alone then surely that selfe same personall power it was either some naturall or supernaturall power at the least Howbeit a meere naturall power it might not possibly be because no created or meere naturall power may possibly extend foorth it selfe to any such supernaturall action as hath been sufficiently shewed before Exorcistes That followeth not For the body of Christ it was vndoubtedly a created or true naturall body and yet notwithstanding there went vertue or power from out of the same for the admirable curing of people And therefore if it so seemed good to the Lord for the glory of his name why might not some power in like manner proceed from my person for the timely expelling of that spirit or diuel Physiologus Besides your shamelesse pride in matching your body with the body of Christ you do monstrously mistake the very point of your purpose For do you imagine that there went any power essentially from out of the body of Christ for the admirable curing of any Exorcistes I make no question thereof And the scripture it telleth vs plainly that the whole multitude thronged to touch him for there proceeded vertue out of him and healed them all Physiologus Though it be said in the text that vertue proceeded out of Christ to the curing of many yet that must not be vnderstood as though any vertue essentially existing in the naturall body of Christ did passe foorth essentially from him vnto others in that selfesame absolute number no but this proceeding of vertue from the bodie of Christ vnto others is so farre foorth to be accounted a going foorth as the effect may be said to proceed from the cause Or it is to be interpreted according to the maner of a cause producing an effect The which are said to go foorth the one from the other in as much as the verie cause it selfe doth apparantly shine foorth in that selfesame effect which it worketh And euen after such a manner we must vnderstand this matter in question Because the Diuine vertue it selfe essentially existing in the person of Christ did effectually procure present health to the parties oppressed Otherwaies how must that text be vnderstood which telleth vs that the wisedome of God being but one the same can do all things it selfe that it renueth all and entreth eueh into the holie soules making them the friends and prophets of God Now sir because it is said he entreth into the holie soules must we therefore imagine the holie spiriâ— of God to be any where now where it was not before not so for the same of necessitie at all times and seasons is euerie where present Howbeit because the holie spirit of God doth then
to answere Augustine by Augustine himselfe both in the very same booke and else where besides Wherein he flatly affirmeth that the angels do outwardly helpe vs by certaine visible apparitions or sights which they propose offer before our eies Those selfesame apparitions hauing not onely an apt resemblance of naturall bodies but which also are subiected vnder their Angelicall auctoritie and power Thus the Augustine you see is so variable in himselfe concerning this point as no certaintie can be concluded of that which he speakes Lycanthropus By this one shift you may easily shift ouer what truth soeuer the holy fathers affirme Ortâ—odoxus I neuer yet sought to shake of any truth by shifts Neither doe I preiudice Augustine or any of the fathers by viewing and reiecting their variable opinions for so Augustine in his latter Retractions oft times reiecteth himselfe And howsoeuer Augustine or your selfe doe dreame in this point very certaine I am as was shewed before that the good Angels of God in their orderly execution of any peculiar office appointed by God were neuer essentially mingled with the minds of the godly No verely but in all their ambassages they doe either manifest themselues by seeing and hearing or assist vs eftsoones by some other sensible meanes howbeit they at no hand do helpe vs by any reall commixture of their proper substances together with ours No that God of order who ordereth all things in number in waight and in measure hauing decreed no such course at all would at no hand permit such confusion of substances nor endure such shamefull disorder among anie his creatures in heauen or in earth Lycanthropus Tell me then by what meanes they do hurt men Orthodoxus Not by any essentiall possession or reall commixture of themselues with mens mindes but by that selfesame effectuall power which euen now worketh mightily in the disobedient children By the efficacie also of which working power they become lying spirites in the mouthes of false prophets they worke lying woonders in all deceiueablenes of vnrighteousnes they buffet mens mindes with fearefull tentations they endeuour to sifte and to winnowe mens soules as men winnow wheate they circumuent them with wiles they make men vncleane they possesse them by deafenes they strike them with blindenes they subdue them through dumbnes they ouercome them by lamenesse yea and euen binde them as it were with diseases a long time togither Brieflie the diuel hauing power ouer death by the efficacie of that power he doth vexe and torment men within and without compassing ouer the earth running like a ramping roaring lyon continually about to deuoure Lycanthropus Yea but how should they possiblie either hurt or deuoure hauing in men no reall possession Orthodoxus You do ouer-grosly conceiue of the matter and with as good reason might aske me howe an enimie should possiblie hurt the captaine which keepeth an hold he hauing in the saide captaine no reall possession Howbeit this me thinke you might know by experience that notwithstanding the want of reall possession the enimie may many waies hurt the said captaine as by giuing him bribes to betray the hold by assaulting by battring by undermyning by pyning by wounding yea and by slaying some of his souldiers before his face All these and many moe annoiances the enimie may offer the captaine though not essentially inherent in the captaine himselfe yea and by the dispatching of these he cannot choose but vexe and torment the captaine himselfe euen as if he had really and substantially possessed his person After the selfe-same maner dealeth Satan with such as he is said to possesse For albeit he doth not substantially enter into the possessed mans minde which is as it were a grand-captaine ouer the bodie yet for all this the diuell that sworne aduersarie of man by deuising procuring applying and by ministring many strange sicknesses diseases and deathes to the bodie he doth no lesse violently vexe and torment the minde it selfe then if he were essentially entred therein Yea and all these the forenamed annoiances he effecteth at his owne will and pleasure Partly for that he is of long experience in mischief hauing bin a practitioner therein from the beginning of the world Partly thorough a more easie maner of knowing things he being very sharpe sighted throughly acute not needing those meanes which earthlie men neede to vnderstand and to find forth the natures effects and causes of things And partlie also by reason of the excellencie of their proper nature they being most speedelie caried from place to place being of infinite power in comparison of vs and being also of such an exquisite knowledge as eftsoones they vndertake by obseruing euents and by conferring of causes to coniecture the timelie successe of manie their mischeiuous enterprises By al the premisses then it is verie apparant that the diuel he hath such an effectuall power permitted vnto him as he needes not essentiallie enter mans mind to accomplish any his diuellish enterprises Lycanthropus If diuels enter not essentiallie into the possessed mans mind how should they possiblie encline or bow his saied mind to their purpose Orthodoxus Touching the enclining of mindes if we speake herein according to truth God alone is properlie said to worke in the minds of men and to encline their wils which waies he please although yet spirites and diuels they may also be considered as helpers herein howbeit such helpers no doubt as doe rather moue by external reasons then encline at al by internal actions And euen so the lying spirite in the mouth of Ahab his prophets was after a sort an helper to God Concerning therefore the enclining of minds we must here distinguish betweene the interiour efficient who onlie is God and the exteriour agent namelie spirites and diuels Againe the meanes whereby the exteriour agent doth worke is twofold The first is the external obiect of the mind it being apprehended of the vnderstanding for good and effectuallie offered also vnto the wil. For euerie facultie of the mind is especiallie moued by his proper obiect not only offered but apprehended also effectually The other external meanes enclining the mind is seated in those affections and passions that are placed in the sensitiue appetite namely lust anger loue and such like by which also the wil after a sort is inclined to something Now then spirites and diuels they are able by external obiects to stirre vp affections and passions in the sensitiue appetite Howbeit not simplie and absolutelie as God who is said to haue the hearts of kings in his hand and who also is able alone to encline mans wil effectuallie to whatsoeuer he please but after a sort and so far forth also as they by external reasons are able like councellours to perswade the wil vnto something For they cannot possiblie compel the wil the same
his preposterous actions Physiologus Preposterous actions indeed for the diuell to appropriate to himselfe the peculiar organon of the possessed mans soule Do you imagine the Lord euer propounded any such end to himselfe in the creation of bodies Or do you suppose the Lord euer granted so large a commission or that the diuell himselfe euer receiued such an absolute power concerning the bodies of men But go to what becomes of the soule or spirit all the while the diuell himselfe is really inherent in the possessed mans bodie Remaines the soule still in that bodie as in her proper habitation appointed of God till the day of her vtter dissolution by death Or is it for the whole time of the diuell his being in that bodie vtterly exiled thrust out from the same Lycanthropus Naie the soule is not euen then secluded or shut out from the bodie at al but continueth and lieth therein like a subdued prisoner fast bound hand and foote yeelding ouer to the diuel for that present his whole interest concerning the bodie and endureth perforce his inexorable and tyrannous crueltie Physiologus But tell me I pray you is not the soule or the minde of a man an incorporall substance or a spirit equally diffused and spred throughout the whole bodie and euerie part thereof according to powers and proportion not Arithmeticall but Geometricall so as all the members of the bodie it selfe doth effectually fulfill their peculiar offices accordingly They being the proper instruments of that selfesame minde or spirituall substance furdering freely the organicall operation thereof and excecuting readily whatsoeuer the minde shall giue them in charge And that therefore this selfesame bodie being thus vtterly depriued as you say for the present of the soules organicall operation is in effect but dead to the soule because wheresoeuer is an vtter priuation of the soules operations concerning the bodie there the life of that man is for the present dissolued Hold you all this for a truth Lycanthropus Yea I may not denie any part thereof Physiologus Seeing then you doe flatly conclude that the minde or spirit of man is the first substantiall forme or action in a liuing bodie and the originall or primarie cause of all effects whatsoeuer performed duly therein as being that onlie whereby we doe liue perceiue desire are moued in place and doe also vnderstand how is it possible that the soule or mind of a man being naturally in perpetuall motion should at any time lie idle in her bodie it being the proper Organon of the soule peculiarly appointed vnto it by God yea euen vnto the very dissolution thereof Or how should the said soule or minde lie bound like a prisoner in her proper bodie and not execute effectually those selfesame operations and powers which are peculiarly appropriated vnto it for the special seruice of that selfesame bodie Lycanthropus What meane you by the proper operations of the soule or minde Physiologus I vnderstand thereby all those peculiar actions which doe necessarily succeede the powers of the minde as proper effects peculiarly appertaining vnto it Otherwaies this peculiar power of the minde it being a meane betweene the substance and operations of the minde are the only efficient cause of the said mindes operations should be vtterly in vaine and to no purpose at all vnles the peculiar effects of that selfesame power did vndoubtedly and immediatly succeede the same Howbeit these selfesame effects cannot possibly succeed the saide power of the minde so long at the least as the Diuel himselfe really possessing the bodie doth wholy and absolutely take vp the said bodie with the members thereof to accomplish his mischieuous purposes As for example all the operations of the minde are either organical or animal The organical operations they are those seuerall actions which the minde can in no wise accomplish but in the bodie it selfe and by all the seuerall members thereof as by the proper instruments for that purpose peculiarly appointed vnto it Namely the nutritiue augmentatiue and generatiue operations appertaining especially to the vegetatiue life also the facultie of seeing hearing tasting smelling handling and of common sense moreouer the imaginatiue the memoratiue the concupiscible irascible and motiue faculties being all attendant vpon the sensitiue life Now then these and euerie of these are the organical operations of the minde yea and such also as the minde cannot possibly effect but in her owne bodie and by all the partes thereof as by the peculiar instruments appointed of God And therefore how should the possessed mans minde his bodie it selfe being thoroughly surprised and taken vp as you say by the Diuel at any hand accomplish either all or any one of these organical operations Lycanthropus As the minde her selfe cannot but be in perpetuall motion so surely being forcibly restrained from these her organical operations she must for the present be faine to put in execution and to practise as she may her animal operations Physiologus The animal operations they are such speciall actions as the minde of it selfe both can and may effectually accomplish without the bodie namely those three essential powers of the reasonable soule called the vnderstanding affection and will Whereof the two last are fitly termed the intellectiue appetite whereas the organical affections arising only from out of the hart the lyuer and entralles are called the sensitiue appetite But for as much as these animal operations all the while the minde it selfe is seated in her proper bodie are by the order of God appointed to be the directours and moderatours of all the organical operations I aske you by what meanes the mind may accomplish her appointed dutie concerning the direction and moderation of those her organical actions so long as the Diuel himselfe doth really and wholy take vp the said bodie with her seuerall partes to become the vnhappie instruments of his Diuellish attempts Lycanthropus I see no possible helpe but that the minde it selfe must giue place to the Diuel for a time Physiologus Giue place for a time for how long I beseech you Put case this man be really possest of the diuell for seuen yeeres togither or more and that in the meane time he should die before the diuell be dispossest of his bodie which for any thing knowne to the diuell he may very well do for his daies are determined which he cannot possiblie passe Now then the soule it selfe being surprized by death and so seperate from the bodie it selfe before she recouer her pristinate power concerning the saide bodie or any the organicall actions appertaining vnto it to whom must those the disordered actions wrought in the bodie all the whole time of the diuell his reall possession therein be imputed I pray you Whether to the possessed mans minde or to the diuell himselfe that possesseth his bodie And whether of both must yeeld an account vnto God for those seuerall actions of the sinfull bodie Lycanthropus The verie soule it selfe is answerable
by other words in the text which affirme that the Egyptian Sorcerers they did in like maner by their enchantments Where you may plainely perceiue the particle of likenes purposely put down to set foorth the difference as if he should say the Sorcerers they did the very like in shewe although not in substance For marke I beseech you there is in that text both the maner and meanes of their working precisely put downe The manner of their working was by a likenes of serpents in an onelie appearance the meanes of effecting that worke was the Sorcerers inchantments From which words of the text I may reason thus A like cause argueth a like effect But the Sorcerers inchantments which are altogither deceiueable false and standing onely in outward appearance were the very efficient cause of that likenes therefore the effect I meane that likenes it selfe must needs be deceiueable false and onely exist in an outward appearance Thus then the case it selfe being by all the premisses apparantly euident I will now returne at the last to answere your maine or principall argument which was this in effect Satan by the Egyptian Sorcerers transformed rods into serpents therefore he is much more able to doe the same by himselfe This I must tell you is a false and deceiueable argument For first in your antecedent you do shamefullie begge the cause in question before it be prooued and now when it comes to the triall it is not able to holde the hammering Againe your consequent also is false for therein you do make the diuell a verie free and absolute agent in transforming of bodies as well without as with meanes at his pleasure which onely is a power peculiar to God whereas the diuels can accomplish nothing in nature but by naturall causes and meanes no more then the Carpenter can frame an house without fit matter and instruments to worke withall So then both parts of your argument being apparantly false you cannot possiblie conclude from thence any power in the diuell for an essentiall transforming of bodies Lycanthropus Well sir Howsoeuer you passe ouer this argument taken from the sorcerers rods transformed to serpents and all this forsooth by a pretie distinstion of a thing in existence and of a thing in appearance yet haue I one argument more which you shall neuer be able to auoide with that cunning deuise Physiologus Let vs heare that irrefragable argument for hitherto you haue afoorded vs none that needes any great cunning in answering Lycanthropus Nebuchad-nezzar it is very well knowen was essentially transformed into an oxe therfore the diuel may easily change himselfe into any shape whatsoeuer Physiologus Or euer I come to answere directly your argument doe tell me how it is certainly knowen that Nebuchad-nezzer was essentially transformed into an oxe Lycanthropus Iosephus writing of the Iewish antiquities he flatly affirmes it so Physiologus Iosephus doth so I confesse Howbeit Iosephus he hath beene so often discredited and tainted in other points of more waightie importance as the lesse credit is to be giuen him in this especially the very words of the text being otherwaies euident and testifying plainly vnto vs that Nebuchad-nezzer he was not essentially transformed at all either in minde or in bodie Lycanthropus Neuer goe about to make vs thinke so for the very text it telleth vs plainly he did eate grasse like an oxe Physiologus It doth so in deede and what of that will you hereupon inferre that therefore he was essentially transformed into an oxe That were a mad kinde of inference So conies and geese they doe eate grasse like an oxe and yet notwithstanding they still retaine their proper essential being without any essential transformings into either oxen or asses Besides that if you will wilfully insist vpon any essentiall transformation in Nebuchad-nezzer you might with more shew of sense and better probabilitie of reason auouch that he was transformed rather into an eagle both bicause the haires of his head saith the text were growen like to an eagles feathers and for that also the very nailes of his hands and feete they were like to the clawes of a bird And therefore it would be more consonant you see to conclude that Nebuchad-nezzer was rather transformed into some fowle hauing feathers and clawes then into a beast that hath hornes and hoofes Howbeit there was in him no corporal transformation at all but only a changed minde for so saith the text Let his hart be changed from mans nature and a beastes hart be giuen vnto him Lycanthropus If you yeeld vnto him a changed hart I make no doubt at all of an altered bodie For if the minde it selfe which is the first substantial forme in man be transformed as you say to an oxe what other forme or being at all can be giuen to the bodie it being the organical partes of the minde but only the forme of an oxe Physiologus What meane you by Nebuchad-nezzer his hart transformed Lycanthropus I meane thereby that his very hart it selfe was essentially changed into the very hart of a beast for so saith the text Physiologus The text vnderstandeth there no reall transmutation or transformation of substance but only an alteration or change of qualities For there is no doubt at all but that in Nebuchad-nezzer there still remained a reasonable hart howsoeuer by the iust iudgement of God for his pride he was for the determined time euen vtterly depriued of all vse of reason Hauing his said hart for the present so plunged in beastly corruptions and so wholy ouerwhelmed with brutish affections as that thereby he differed nothing at all from a beast being more blockish and senselesse in humane knowledge then the very oxe that feedeth on grasse So that how honorable soeuer before in princely dignitie yet hauing now in him no vnderstanding at all he is not vnlike to the beastes that perish Lycanthropus If there were in his hart no substantiall change at all how could there possibly be wrought in the same such altered or changed qualities Physiologus There is nothing you knowe impossible to God By whose eternal decree the hart of Nebuchad-nezzer was so thoroughly ouertaken and tainted with such an outragious furie or madnes as that he being vtterly depriued of humane sense did presently depart the Court very wildly wandring ouer the wildernes like to a beast conuersing in brutish manner among the brute beastes themselues and leading for the time a very sauage and beastly behauiour Exorcistes If Nebuchad-nezzer was not essentially transformed at all in bodie or minde but possessed only with furie and madnes it is vnlikely his Courtiers would suffer him then to conuerse with beasts abroad in the fields but would rather haue bound him and kept him vp close in the darke and therefore for any thing hitherto heard he might be essentially transformed into a beast Physiologus That he was not essentially transformed at all it is very
to abound Whose vaporous humors vitiating and corrupting the braine doe procure the patient vnto a verie deepe sleepe Wherein his phantasie is fearefully troubled with the dailie impression of such fearefull and strange imaginations as do cause the interiour spirits of the braine to waxe verie wilde and fearefull by reason of those blacke and cloudie representations which were receiued before in the phantasie And heereof it is that some vnskilfull Physitions do so rashly ascribe this humorous disease to the operation of the diuell and that the ignorant people do absurdly imagine the partie thus affected to be vndoubtedly possessed of diuels Howbeit they should certeinly know that a cholerike humour so soone as an extreme adustion affecteth the same is foorthwith conuerted to furie or madnes neither is it then satisfied with an onely simple melancholike affection This disease it hapneth to men especially in Autumne through the malitiousnes of the humors abounding and eftsoones is encreased in the spring in summer yea it is then the extreamest of all when the north-winde blowes by reason of the drines thereof The signes that commonly fall foorth in the beginning of this disease are these namely strange conceits and feares a pronesse to anger the partie affecting solitarinesse hauing a fearefull swimming and turning about of the braine Howbeit when the disease is once growne to perfection then there folowes verie fearfull and strange effects For some are afraide the heauens will ouerwhelme them forthwith some feare the earth will swallow them quicke some stand in continuall dread of theeues and others againe that woolues will enter into them Some imagine themselues to be diuels birds and vessels of earth yea and that they be truely transformed into woolues and therefore they do counterfeit their voices wander about in the fields This vndoubtedly is your present disease this is that which makes you so resolute concerning the supposed possession of spirits and diuels All which you may plainely perceiue is nothing else in effect but a phantasticall conceit occasioned only vpon those disordered humours which hurt and trouble your braine That which any further concerneth the nature the causes the circumstances and cure of Lycanthropie you may see more at large in Wierus his workes Lycanthropus This is very strange I assure you and more then euer I heard albeit I haue felt the experience thereof in my selfe Physiologus Not so strange as true and therefore forsake your folly in time Orthodoxus I pray you hartely doe so and that so much the rather by how much the diuel in working vpon that disordered humour will be ready eftsoones to abuse you afresh In consideration whereof I will shew you what the Ancyran councell aâ—d others haue carefully decreed against such humerous persons saying thus Whereas certeine gracelesse women seduced wholly by satans illusions doe verely imagine themselues for certeine howers in the night to be riding vpon woolues and beasts with Diana the pagane Goddesse and to passe through sundry countries through which erronious conceite they being grosly abused doe verely beleeue those things to be true yea and in beleeuing the same do fearefully straggle from the true sauing faith It appertaineth therefore to the ministers in euery their seuerall churches to publish and confute the falshood hereof and withall to strengthen the minds of their people against euery such phantasticall and fond illusion of satan Who eftsoones assailing the minds of humerous women and through infidelity conpling them sure to himselfe deludes their said minds with dreames and visions making them sometimes mery and sometimes sad shewing them sundry persons both knowne and vnknown yea and leading them dangerous bie-waies to their owne destruction Thus you see the councels decree against these rouing conceites wherewith your selfe at this present is fearefullie tainted and therefore forethinke you thereof in time Lycanthropus Are there then no essentiall transformations at all Orthodoxus No verily whatsoeuer they seeme in shewe they are but illusions and sleights of the diuel to deceiue and therefore I aduise you to winde your selfe from them with speede for feare of a further mischiefe And because you shall not imagine this councell I giue to be but a dreaming deuise of my owne therefore besides that which was spoken before I will yet further make knowen vnto you how generall councels many good writers yea and the Popes owne canons do all iointly condemne and pronounce this peeuish opinion concerning the supposed transformation of diuels to be impious absurd and diuellish and the maintainers thereof to be woorse then Infidels saying thus Whosoeuer beleeueth that any one creature can be made or changed into better or woorse or to be transformed into any other shape or into any other similitude by any other then by God himselfe the creator of all things without doubt he is but an Infidell and woorse then a Pagane And therewithall this reason is rendred Because say they they doe therein attribute that power to a creature which onely belongeth to God the creator of all things By this you may plainely perceiue of what reckoning these your supposed transformations haue beene in former times Philologus Lycanthropus your opinion it appeareth is plainely condemned of all and therefore forsake it for shame Lycanthropus So I do I assure you praising the Lord with all my hart for bringing me thus to behold the folly thereof yea and am hartely sory for being bewitched therewith so long being also ashamed now of my odious name Physiologus The Lords name be blessed for this your happy illumination in Iesus Christ. Pneumatomachus Yea and the Lord grant the like happy successe to our further proceedings Lycanthropus So be it But good Master Orthodoxus I remember full wel how that in the beginning of our conference where we handled the power of spirits aud diuels you spake of a twofold possession the one reall the other actuall The first you haue fully confuted notwithstanding any thing spoken to the contrary Howbeit of the other the question is ordinary in euery mans mouth and therefore I pray you hartely shew vs your iudgement also therein Orthodoxus What I pray you is the common opinion of men concerning the same Lycanthropus I here of none that make any doubt of actuall possession yea and the Exorcist also who cast out the diuel at Magnitton howsoeuer he faggeth with me now concerning his first conceite of real possessions he is very confident in the very title of his apology to auouch the yong man to haue been actually possessed of satan Exorcistes I doe so in deed and I make no doubt thereof at all being able I hope to mannage the same against all men yea euen to the death Orthodoxus What are you able to mannage against all to the death Exorcistes That the diuel hath and may haue now euen in these daies of the gospel an actuall or powerfull possession in men Orthodoxus What man are
as he please For if he be anie waies able there is no doubt of his willingnes in working of mischiefe That if he hath done them before at Mahgnitton he is then able to doe them againe my reason is this namely for that euerie art or action presupposeth alwaies an essentiall power in the artist or actor himselfe Your Apologie therefore reporting as it doth for infallible truth that the diuell in the yoongman at Mahgnitton either did or could possibly accomplish such impossible actions you your selfe must be able to demonstrate by what possible meanes he might possibly effect them which I verily supposse you cannot possibly doe For this you may not be ignorant of that to euery action is required the faculty and ability of the agent the aptnesse of the patient or subiect with a conuenient and possible application of true matter and forme Now then first for the diuel the supposed agent of those your impossible actions he is not omnipotent but an impotent a finite and circumscriptible spirit and his power whatsoeuer it dependeth vpon the analogy and consonancy of his mind and body if he had any at all Howbeit with his mind he can doe no more but vnderstand and will and with his body if he had any at all he could accomplish no more then the very bounds and ends of corporall sense would suffer and the faculty of his nature extendeth vnto and therefore his naturall power whatsoeuer it cannot possibly stretch foorth it selfe to the powerfull effecting of any such supernaturall actions as doe infinitely surmount his naturall and finite faculty his sense his vnderstanding and will So then here wanteth you see first the faculty and power of the efficient it selfe for the possible effecting of those impossible actious wherewith you would mannage your pretended actuall possession Whereupon I infer that if no such supernaturall power at all may be prooued in the diuel his supposed possession then no such supernaturall actions in truth may possibly proceede from the same notwithstanding any your printed reports For in all reason there can be no greater vertue in the thing caused then is in the cause it selfe or in that which proceedes from the benefit of the cause But you in your printed apology doe make the diuel his supposed actuall possession the principall effiâ—ient cause of all such supernaturall actions as were ministerially effected you say by the yong man at Mahgnitton and therefore the said power being finite you cannot possibly conclude from thence any such admirable matters as you would beare vs in hand Neither may you conscionably perswade vs to entertaine for sound truth whatsoeuer you report concerning that point especially if we will credit our owne experience and sense vnabused the rules of philosophy and sound diuinity Now next for any aptnesse in the yoong man at Mahgnitton whom in any wise you will haue the proper patient or subiect of those strang and impossible actions how should there possibly be found in him any aptnesse or inclination at all to any such supernaturall matters he himselfe being but a meere naturall creature consisting naturally of body and soule endued onely with meere naturall faculties and circumscribed no dout with meere naturall bonds And therefore you see it is vtterly impossible for him to haue any further aptnesse or inclination that way then his naturall faculty extendeth vnto and may possibly proceede from the very sway and reache of his owne proper nature Briefly concerning some conuenient and possible application of true matter and forme for the orderly effecting of those your supposed supernaturall actions such a conuenient and possible application is much more impossible then any of the rest Both because no such true matter for those your supposed supernaturall actions was euer preexisting in nature and for that also the true forme it selfe for a conuenient and possible application thereof must needs be supernaturall surmounting by much the naturall power of the diuel And so by consequence those your printed reports they are you see no sound demonstrations to conclude vnto vs the certeine truth of such supposed supernaturall actions Exorcistes Why are you so loth to beleeue that which so many beheld with their eies Physiologus Because I see not how they should possibly behold that with their eies which you would haue me beleeue with my hart contrary to diuinity to philosophy to physick to nature to law and to conscience 1. For first the working of miracles in all sound diuinity is ceased long since neither was the diuel euer able to effect any miracle whatsoeuer he pretended in outwarde appearance 2. Besides that no one reason in all Philosophie may possibly be yeelded for the confirmation of a matter so impossible in reason 3. Againe howsoeuer the yoong man was said to vse ointments in working his feates yet verie certeine I am that no one Physicall receipt may by arte be prescribed for the possible effecting of such impossible actions 4. Nether yet may a circumscribed nature at any hand extend herselfe beyond her owne naturall bounds to the admirable accomplishment of such supernaturall matters 5. Moreouer because there is nothing possible in Law which in nature it selfe is absurd and impossible the Iudge therefore notwithstanding any thing confessed before by the parties he is not to attend or regard whatsoeuer those partiall reporters haue published in print or otherwaies reported to be done by the diuel at Mahgnitton but he must strictly examine and in equitie alowe rather of that thing which is substantially prooued to haue in deed and in truth by him beene effected or which at the least might naturally and possiblie fall within the full power of the agent to do 6. Lastly whatsoeuer the yoong-man may haplie report concerning the supposed accomplishment of any such supernaturall actions by himselfe or the diuell he is not in conscience to be beleeued therein whether his iudgement be sound or vnsound I mean whether he be wel or but wild in his wits For first be it supposed the man were sound in his iudgement yea and so well in his wits as possiblie he might be yet were there no conscience at all to credite a cousoning companion so vnconscionablie auouching such incredible actions But if as may rather be deemed he was someway intoxicated or not well in his wittes when he reported such matters abroad then tell me what conscience or what wisdome it were to credite for infallible truth the crazie confession of a crazie weake braine in matters especially so absurd and so opposite to the orderly course of nature For this I take to be Lawe namely that when the errour of iudgement or the blindnes of will dependeth vpon some secret disease or naturall infirmitie the mens actions then in such kind of cases are in all tender compassion to be carefully pitied but their confessions at no band to be conscionablie credited
diuels for thereby also you might haue borne vs in hand that herbes in times past haue beene workers of miracles Exorcistes Well sir howsoeuer you would scoffe out the matter doe answere Iosephus Physiologus I will Iosephus he hath heretofore so often beene tainted in matters of more waightie importance as we haue the lesse cause to credit his pen in these his senseles reports Besides that let this which he writes concerning these tryfling toyes be esteemed for certeine truthes I meane that some such dipossessions were effected in some outward appearance yet Wierus he flatly affirmes that Iosephus the Iewe Vespasian the Ethnicke and Eleazar also the Hebrew were euerie of them woonderfully bewitched with the iuggling sleights of the diuell Who for the present did purposely pretend the giuing of place to an imagined vertue in ringes in rootes in herbes and in stones that by meanes of such sundrie his illusions those persons themselues might the more easily be brought to repose greater confidence in those tryfling toies then in the almighty Iehouah the onely disposer and guider of all things And for the furthering of this his diuellish endeuour the better he brought it also to passe that all those his said Exorcismes they were very confidently fathered vpon Salomon himselfe in an especiall regard of his singular wisedome that by such legerdemaines he might winne the more credit to all those his sprituall illusions But seeing it is certeinly true that these created instruments could not effectiuely extend foorth themselues to the powerfull effecting of any such supernaturall effects what man will bee so wilfully madde as once to beleeue or once to esteeme those his tryfling tales for infallible truthes Againe sith Salomon the verie mirrour it selfe of heauenly wisedome being vsually accustomed as the Hebrewes report to dispute of trees and of herbes from the Cedar of Libanon to the verie Hysope it selfe and which more is of beastes of fowles of creeping things and of fishes in the knowledge of all which there lieth hid from the world much secret Philosophie for the admirable effecting of such admirable matters by meere naturall meanes If Salomon I say disputing these matters hath left no one monument at all of any such admirable skill throughout the whole scriptures recorded what wight is so sottishly minded as once to imagine that wise Salomon himselfe was the first inuentour of anie such palpable fooleries or that he was the author of any such Magicall enchantments and superstitious Exorcismes as are so iniuriouslie or rather so blasphemouslie fathered vpon him Exorcistes How basely soeuer you esteeme of these meanes which Iosephus reportes yet what say you to that which good Tobie declareth concerning the perfume made with the fishes liuer which expelled the diuell from out of Sarah the daughter of Raguel That perfume you know it was only a created and meere naturall meanes therefore an onely created and meere naturall meanes it hath and may haue in it an actuall power for the dispossessing of spirits and diuels Physiologus The booke of Tobiah it is not Canonicall and therefore not authenticall enough to conuince or confirme any matter in controuersie But be it supposed Canonicall yet thus then I answere the same Namely that the forenamed perfume so made of the liuer it might lessen in some sort the present affliction though not vtterly expell the diuell his possession For that perfume it might be some physicall meanes to drie vp or correct some bad disposition in Sarahs braine arising naturally from the variable disposition of the moone it selfe ouer moistning her braine and making it more apt for the present apprehending of satan his entended afflictions Which saide badde humour of hers being by that meanes something alaied the affliction withall it would something abate howbeit vtterly to expell the diuell his possession it could haue no possible power at all No that supernaturall action if any such were was supernaturally effected by a supernaturall power in the Angell Who taught not Tobiah by any force of that perfume to expell the diuell but tolde him rather before that so soone as the perfume was kindled the diuell should foorthwith be expelled Not that the perfume it selfe should effectiuely procure any such supernaturall action but be rather an apparant demonstration of the admirable effecting thereof For euen as it is not vndoubtedly necessarie that the washing of my handes shoulde be an efficient cause of the moones ecclipse though the moone it selfe at the verie time of my washing be vndoubtedly ecclipsed so neither was it necessarie that the forenamed perfume should effectiuely procure of it selfe that selfesame supposed dispossession of satan howsoeuer satan at the verie instant it selfe was truelie dispossessed So then the Angell he taught by that perfume what should then come to passe not rendring any one efficient cause why it so came to passe As also the verie text you alledge it telleth vs not that the perfume expelled the power of the diuell but that it was rather the Angell himselfe who cast the diuell foorth at the verie same time the perfume was kindled Now then what was it I pray you that expelled the diuel the perfume which rose vp from the liuer no but the Angell that bound him And how did he binde him by any effectuall meanes of that perfume No but at the verie same season the liuer perfumed the Angell he bound the diuell in the vtmost borders of Egypt Giuing Tobiah that selfesame perfume as an infallible signe but no effectuall cause at all of Sarah her happie deliuerance Thus then you plainely perceiue that no created or meere naturall meanes â—ath any efficient power of it selfe for the actuall dispossessing of spirits and diuels Exorcistes Wel sir howsoeuer you may iustly challenge the authority of Tobiah for not being authenticall I haue one example from the canonicall scriptures to confirme the infallible truth of that which I hold herein Namely that admirable action of Dauid who onely but plaied with his harp and the euil spirit of the Lord departed from Saul Howbeit that harpe and that playing of Dauid thereon were onely created and meer naturall meanes therefore some onely created or meere naturall meanes may haue in it naturally an effectuall power for the dispossessing of spirits and diuels Physiologus In deed if spirits and diuels had their peculier bodies naturally vnited vnto them as Apuleius affirmeth saying that diuels are liuing creatures constituted of airy bodies of passible minds and in time also eternall then there would be no inconuenience at all to hold that spirits and diuels by a melodious sound or some other such sensible meanes might be altered in their actions and expelled from men For the Platonists they flatly affirme that diuels are a certeine meane betweene the intellectuall spirits who are of a pure spirituall substance and between men hauing bodies constituted of the foure elements Howbeit because the sacred scriptures and
sorts of workers Commonlie and indifferently I confesse an author in a more common and more ample signification howbeit a fauourer only of good and a director of all actions whatsoeuer to the good of his children and glorie of his name As more plainly appeareth in the person of Iob whom the diuell could no further afflict then the Lord had appointed By all that which is spoken it is therefore verie apparant that notwithstanding anie thing hitherto heard the actuall affliction of Saul it might something be lessened though the actuall possession of satan if anie such there was still continued Exorcistes Well sir I argue it further thus If a melodious sound may effectually procure such an apt disposition in the minde of a man as may make it more able to receiue and recouer afresh some supernaturall gift being lost before then may it much more procure such an apt disposition in the body of man as may euen vtterly disable the same from the speedie apprehension of any such naturall affliction as is naturally inflicted by satan But the first is vndoubtedly true as appeereth in Elisha the man of God who onely by hearing a melodious harmonie recouered foorthwith the supernaturall gift of prophesie and therefore also the other in like manner is apparently euident For an actiue vertue hauing an abilitie in that which is greater it hath much more abilitie in that which is lesse Yea and this also verie fitly accordeth with the text it selfe which telleth vs plainely that when Dauid but handled his harpe the euill spirit departed foorthwith from Saul Physiologus Howsoeuer your antecedent befitteth your humour the same I assure you is vtterly vntrue For first the prophet Elisha he had not vtterly lost the supernaturall gift of prophesie as your selfe verie falslie and fondly imagine howsoeuer being somthing disquieted in minde by reason of the wicked kings presence he perceiued himselfe vnapt for the present to any such spirituall enterprize And for that onely respect he purposely required that some cunning musition by playing and singing before him might quiet his troubled minde and quicken his dulled spirits for his better enabling afresh to that so sacred and so blessed a busines Againe if the Prophet as you falslie affirme had euen vtterly lost indeed that selfesame supernaturall gift then surely the sensible sound of a melodious harmonie had beene vtterly vnable of it selfe to recouer the same Because created vertue such as that musicall harmonie was it could not effectually extend it selfe to the timely apprehension of any such supernaturall action or habite as prophesying is Onely it might be some meanes to reuiue and to quicken the appaled spirits of the prophet Elisha for the better preparing of him to that action but againe to recouer that supernaturall gift of prophesie being vtterly lost it had beene vtterly vnable Notwithstanstanding all this let vs admit your antecedent for currant which will neuer be prooued so yet your consequent or inference enforced from thence is too too weakely confirmed by the rule you alledge Telling vs incōsiderately that any actiue vertue hauing an abilitie in that which is greater it hath an abilitie also in that which is lesse This rule I assure you it concludes not your cause no it commeth short thereof by manie degrees in as much as the same is not vniuersally true but holdeth onely in things essentially subordinate in one and the selfe-same kinde and not else For this is no good consequent A man is able to beget a man therefore he is also able to beget an asse Neither is there any sequell in this A man is able to carrie a great stone therefore he is able also to carrie a great fire Thus then you may plainely perceiue by all the premisses that the actuall affliction in Saul it might something be lessened though yet the actuall possession of satan if any such there was still continued And therefore this the example of Saul who was eased a time by Dauid his handling the harpe it concludeth no absolute dispossessing of spirits and diuels by any created sensible or meere naturall meanes whatsoeuer Exorcistes Well sir how lightlie soeuer you esteeme of these matters it is vndoubtedly true that my selfe dispossessed the yoongman at Mahgnitton yea and this onely by meanes Physiologus By what meanes I beseech you Exorcistes Euen by the onely meanes of fasting and praier Physiologus But whether was it done by your fasting alone or by your praier alone or by your fasting and praier togither Exorcistes Not by any meanes of either alone but by a mutuall concurring of both in that selfesame action Physiologus Put case you had attempted the worke by your praier alone what then woulde your endeuour therein haue beene voide Exorcistes Yea no doubt For by that extraordinary exercise of fasting my praier it became the more forcible and my spirit was made the more powerfull in the timely performance of that admirable enterprise Physiologus So then the whole efficacy of that selfesame action as your speech doth import it depended especially and onely vpon the extraordinary exercize of your fasting alone as vpon that which gaue a power to your praier and which made your spirit the more apt to that enterprise O absurd and sencelesse opinion This sauoureth very shrewdly of the Montanists errour who did attribute so much to their voluntary exercise of fasting and praier as for that selfesame respect they inuented their adusting and drying vp diets for the more forcible effecting of those ther fondly affected fooleries And were therefore very fitly termed temperate continent persons So surely your selfe at this present in this your pretended dispossession of spirits and Diuels you make your extraordinarie exercise of fasting the onely efficient cause of that selfesame supposed dispossession of the diuell at Mahgnitton For first you dispossest him forsooth by the onely meanes of fasting and prayer But your prayer you say it became the more forcible and your spirit was made the more apt by the extraordinarie exercise of your fasting it selfe therefore the extraordinarie exercise of your said fasting it selfe was the onely efficient cause of that selfesame supposed action For whatsoeuer doth make another thing to be such as it is that same thing no doubt is much more so it owne selfe But your extraordinarie exercise of fasting it made your prayer more powerfull and your spirit more apt for that selfesame dispossessing of Satan therefore your said extraordinarie exercise of fasting it was the onely efficient cause of that selfesame dispossessing of Satan This not onely mannageth much the Montanists errors as was shewed before but which more is it doth verie shrewdly support the superstitious and Popish opinions of fasting Who not onely repose to much spiced holines in the voluntarie vsage thereof but make it withall verie satisfactorie for sinne and propitiatorie for the silly poore soules departed to purgatorie Whereas
set out the Diuell who poysoned our grandmother Euah 114 The iudgement of Tremellius and others concerning this point 115 The common receiued opinion herein consented vnto and why ibid. The true interpretation of the word Nachash 116 The Diuell did not essentially enter into the serpents body ibid. Whether the Angell essentially spake in Baalams Asse and how that scripture is to be vnderstood 117 Whether the Angell opened the Asses mouth efficiently or but ministerially 118 Whether the Angell for such a ministeriall opening of the Asses mouth did essentially enter into the Asses bodie 119 Whether Samuels true naturall bodie was essentially assumed by Satan 120 Whether the Diuell appeared to Saul in Samuels likenes 123 Sundrie impossiblities and absurdities concerning such a supposed likenes pag. ibid. The opinion of sundrie writers touching this point ibid. The Witch a cunning ventriloquist coosened Saul 126 The distinction of essentialitér and effectiué is no new but a renued distinction and ordinarie with Schoolemen and Fathers 127 The testimonie of writers touching that point 128 It is absurd to vnderstand literally the things that are spoken of Satan 129 The fifth Dialogue pag. 131. WHether Diuels can essentially transforme themselues into any true naturall bodie 131 This essential transformation of Diuels is opposite to true philosophy 132 Diuels are not essentially transformed into Angels of light 134 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it importeth ibid. The place of 2. Cor. 11. 14. is truely expounded 134. 135 The conference of that one with other places of scripture 136 The family of loue is fitly confuted ibid. Transubstantiation very shrewdly cut in the neck 137 Antiquity is no priuiledge for errours whatsoeuer ibid. Whether the Sorcerers rods were essentially transformed into true naturall serpents 138 Whether the Sorcerers rods were true Serpents in deed or serpents onely in an outward appearance ibid. The Serpents rods were no true naturall rods in any orderly course of nature 139. Neither Sorcerer nor Diuel could euer work a true miracle 140 Diuels neuer had any supernaturall power or skill 141 Why the Sorcerers rods were called Serpents not being in deede true naturall Serpents 142 Satan may procure an outward appearance of things three manner of waies 143 Spirits and Diuels they haue a deeper insight into meere naturall causes then men haue by much 144 The Diuel in transforming the Sorcerers rods was vndoubtedly assisted with a twofold power 145 What is ment by the power of nature ibid. What is to be vnderstood by the power of obedience 146 The Sorcerers rods they were trasformed into Serpents not existingly but appearingly 147 Whether Nabuchadnez-zer was essentially transformed into a naturall oxe 148 There was in Nebuchadnez-zer no transmutation of substance but onely an alteration of qualities 149 Fury disordering mens nature doth make them beastly affected 152 Men by tradition haue receiued hand ouer head an error concerning the essentiall transformation of Diuels 153 God hath naturally engraffed in man such a peculiar propriety touching his naturall being as can at no hand be essentially transformed into any other forme 153 154 Mans members may not possibly be transformed into the proportion or lineaments of a beast 155 If there are essentiall transformations of Diuels then Christs argument Ioh. 20. 27. cannot be currant ibid. That there are no essentiall transformations in any sensible appearance 156 Lycanthropus and what the same importeth 159 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a mere naturall disease and how ibid. Lycanthropy and melancholy proceed from one and the same cause 160 The signes and effects of a true Lycanthropy 161 The Anâ—yran Councell against the opinion of essentiall transformations ibid. Councels Fathers and the popes owne Canons condemning the same page 162 The sixt Dialogue pag. 165 ACtuall possession what it is and the causes thereof 166 The actuall possession of Diuels is twofold ibid. The actuall possession of Diuels was onely in Christ and the Apostles daies 168 The perpetuitie of actuall possession was neuer purposed by God ibid. Whether the commission giuen by Christ to his Apostles for the dispossessing of Diuels be a perpetuall commission 169 Reasons against the perpetuitie of actuall possessions ibid. The extraordinarie power for the expelling of Diuels was onely peculiar to Christ and his owne Apostles and why 170 The opinion of anâ—ient fathers for the supposed perpetuitie of actuall possessions considerately examined 171 Extraordinary gifts and graces did determine with the officers themselues on whom they were peculiarly bestowed 172 The continuance of actuall possession auouched in some 173 Whether the actuall possession of Diuels be an ordinarie disease 174 The termes of ordinarie and continually working what they import 176 The instance from the Sunne with the Antipodes verie fitly retorted 177 The actuall possession of Diuels is an extraordinarie and supernaturall matter surmounting the orderly course of nature 178 The perpetuitie of actuall possession long since determined by Christ. 179 The two maine ends of actuall possession are ceased long since ibid. That maine ende which tended to the manifestation of Christ his Deitie is fully determined Ioh. 12 31. 179 Christ his power matter to worke vpon still though the actuall possession be ceased long since 180 The text in Ioh. 12. 31. is cleered by conferring the same with other places of Scripture 181 Scriptures vnfolding that extraordinarie power of Christ for the dispossessing of Diuels before his suffring in the flesh 182 The difference betweene Christ and the Leuitical priesthood verie plainely expressed 183 Scriptures respecting this speciall power of Christ after his suffring 184 Tho words Tsamath and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verie plainely expounded 185 The text of Iohn 12. 31. paraphrasticallie analyzed 187 The Fathers opinion concerning the ceasing of actuall possession 189 The Diuell was subdued in the Fathers before the comming of Christ 190 Though actuall possession be ceased the faithfull are not freed quite from the Diuell his sundrie tentations ibid. The reason why Satans destruction is so confidently applied to the actuall determination of his essentiall possessions 195 This our exposition of Iohn 12. 31. ouerthrowes not but confirmes the ordinarie receiued exposition ibid. Something besides the weakening of Satans dominion was actually accomplisht by the verie act of Christ his death 196 Christ restraines the actuall determination of actuall possession to the verie act of his death ibid. The dispossessions after Christes death were to confirme the Gospel 197 The seuenth Dialogue pag. 199. WHether common experience may concludently prooue the supposed continuance of actuall possession 199 The actions in the yoong man at Nottingham were in experience no admirable matters if we consider the actions well 200 Many naturall experiments as admirable as those in all appeerance 202 Many maruels in nature ouershadowed as yet with natures maiestie ibid. Verie strange and admirable woonders apparant in nature 203 More strange and admirable matters are reported by Augustine 205 As admirable matters may and do proceed from naturall